Journal of surgical education
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Integrating the NAS Milestones and handheld technology to improve residency training and assessment.
To incorporate the use of an intuitive and robust assessment tool in conjunction with the Next Accreditation System Milestones to maximize opportunities for trainee performance feedback and continuous trainee assessment, with the long-term goal of increasing the rate of performance improvement and mastery of knowledge and surgical skills. ⋯ Innovations in Surgical Education: Milestones.
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Medical students have typically received relatively modest training in approaches for engaging the concerns of patients and families facing life-threatening situations and terminal illnesses. We propose that medical students would perceive benefits to their communication skills, understanding of the role of the chaplain, and knowledge of emotional and spiritual needs of grieving patients and families after shadowing hospital-based trauma chaplains whose work focuses on emergency department traumas and intensive care units. ⋯ Observational experiences with hospital-based trauma chaplains might be an effective nondidactic approach for teaching medical students effective communication with patients and families, collaboration with chaplains, and spirituality in patient care.
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To outline a structured approach for general surgery resident integration into institutional quality improvement and patient safety education and development. ⋯ Structured education regarding and participation in quality improvement and patient safety programs are able to be accomplished during general surgery residency. The long-term outcomes and benefits of these strategies are unknown at this time and will be difficult to measure with objective data.
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To create a clinical competency committee (CCC) that (1) centers on the competency-based milestones, (2) is simple to implement, (3) creates competency expertise, and (4) guides remediation and coaching of residents who are not progressing in milestone performance evaluations. ⋯ Monthly meetings of the CCC make milestone evaluation less burdensome. In addition, the expectations of the residents are clearer and more tangible. "Competency champions" who are familiar with the milestones allow effective coaching strategies and documentation of clear performance improvements in competencies for successful completion of residency training. Residents who do not reach appropriate milestone performance can then be placed in remediation for more formal performance evaluation. The function of our CCC has also allowed us opportunity to evaluate the required rotations to ensure that they offer experiences that help residents achieve competency performance necessary to be safe and effective surgeons upon completion of training.
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The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education requires that "faculty should encourage and support residents in scholarly activities." There are no guidelines, however, to illustrate how this should be done, and only a small number of published reports offer examples of successful efforts to spur resident research. We sought to improve our residents' participation in scholarly activities. ⋯ The addition of an experienced medical editor, changes in program requirements, and an increased commitment to promotion of resident research across the faculty led to a dramatic increase in resident publications. Our changes may be a model for other programs that have the financial resources and faculty commitment necessary to achieve a rapid turnaround.